Aubrey Williams ignores hate speech during her WSOP Women's Championship final table journey

Transgender female poker player Aubrey Williams made it to the final table of the WSOP Women's Championship. She was unfazed by online hate speech and said, "I am a woman, so I play in women's events."

Aubrey Williams did not enter the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Women's Championship to make a political statement; she entered because she said she belonged there.

Williams, a transgender woman, was tied for the chip lead at the start of Day 3. While her tablemates greeted her with friendly smiles and enthusiasm, her deep dive into the game caused a stir in some anti-transgender social media circles.

But Williams didn't seem to care. During a break, she told PokerNews that she doesn't follow social media and that none of the players she's played against have had any complaints about her. When asked why she was participating in the Women's Championship, her answer was simple.

"I'm a woman, so I play in women's tournaments," Williams told PokerNews. "This isn't like making any statement or anything. I'm just playing in a tournament."

"The internet is not the real place."

Williams is a veteran online poker pro with a live winnings record of $369,125 on The Hendon Mob. Her poker journey dates back to the poker boom of her high school years, and she later returned to the world of poker while playing with her roommates during her college years in Philadelphia.

"I started playing poker while watching Moneymaker tournaments in high school," she said.

In a 2024 interview with poker journalist Paul Oresteen, Williams candidly discussed her transition. She began playing online poker full-time around 2019 and eventually won two WSOP Circuit rings in online tournaments.

In 2022, she won a $40,000 guaranteed No-Limit Hold'em Monster Stack event, earning $6,604. She defeated high-stakes top player Brock Wilson to win $19,219, stating that beating such an accomplished opponent made the online ring win feel "more real." Then, in February 2023, she won the WSOP PA Circuit Main Event, earning $19,219.

Williams' biggest moment in her poker career came earlier this year when she won the Borgata Winter Poker Open $1,000 Mixed Championship, winning $52,540. Then, the haters started to appear.

Following Borgata's victory, Williams said there was a surge of hateful and transphobic comments on social media. However, she stated that online trolls did not reflect how other players treated her at the poker table.

"It was the same thing when BetMGM released my video clip a few months ago," Williams said. "Then I went to Borgata the following week, and everyone was so nice to me. I don't know. The internet isn't the real place."

A place at the card table

Williams' journey through the WSOP Women's Championship was a similar experience. Amid a flood of hateful comments online, Williams said her tablemates were friendly and welcoming.

In fact, it was other women who convinced Williams to participate in women's tournaments. Williams pointed out that she and another player "had never participated in women's tournaments before, and we had long been against it."

"Then a lot of women told me, 'You need to participate. You need to participate.' I participated in one and found it very interesting, so I continued to participate. These events are really fun."

But the internet wasn't all hate. Several poker players defended Williams on social media, including streamer Patrick Leonard and Global Poker Award winner Caitlin Comeskey, who also made it deep into the women's tournament.

"Nobody has any complaints about her being here," Comeskey wrote.

BetRivers Poker streamer Keith Becker also defended Williams, writing, "Trans women are women," and "Hateful voices do not represent everyone in the poker world."

The women's championship has only 25 players remaining, including Lexy Gavin-Mather, as well as gold bracelet winners Jessica Teusl and Cherish Andrews.

Williams is still in the running, and she has no time for hatred as she is fighting for her first gold bracelet.

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